Good Reads for Winter Break

Need some good books to read over the break? Here are some tutor recommendations!

The Hunger Games         By: Suzanne Collins

The majority of you have probably already read this, but if you've been too busy because of school, you should pick it up during the break.

This dystopian epic follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen as she fights her way through the Hunger Games. Developed by the Capitol as punishment for a rebellion, this annual event forces children to fight to the death. Read The Hunger Games to find out how Katniss deals with love, betrayal, and oppression.

Alana: The First Adventure           By: Tamora Pierce

Alana and her twin brother Thom have always wanted different things. So when her father tries to send him away to become a knight, she takes his place. However, there is only one problem... girls can't become knights. Alana disguises herself as a boy and has to endure the rought tasks of a page. This first book of a four part series leads into an amazing tale of bravery, loyalty, and love.

Brain Jack         By: Brian Falkner

Sam Wilson is addicted to the future's new drug: online gaming. Neuro headsets replace keyboards, allowing people to control computers just by thinking. Sam finds that he is a gifted hacker, but gets into a sticky situation, and ends up working for the nation's cyber defense office. Soon he realizes that there is a major problem with the headsets... minds can be hacked just as easily as computers. Brain Jack takes you through Sam's race to save humanity on a whole new level.

Not interested in any of these? Check back next week for more suggestions!

Winter Party!

The Wildcat Writing Center is hosting a winter/holiday party! Come to the writing center during CATS on Wednesday the 19th. There will be lots of food, fun, and festivities. All are welcome!

Pictures from the Chicago Trip

Here are some pictures from the Wildcat Writing Center's recent trip to Chicago.

1st Quarter Statistics

Here are some statistics about who came to the Wildcat Writing Center during the 1st quarter of the 2012-2013 school year. We opened on Oct. 9th, and the last day of the quarter was Oct. 31st.

As of October 31, at lunch, there have been 131 appointments at the writing center, and 122 people have come to the writing center.

67 people came within the first two weeks since we opened (10/9 - 10/19).

National Day on Writing

Hey Creative Writers!
Tommorow, October 20th is the national day on writing! The day on writing celebrates all forms of writing, and we at the writing center encourage you to let your imagination flow through writing.

To celebrate the national day of writing, we are asking you to answer #WhatIWrite.

The writing center is trying to make #whatiwrite trend on twitter, but if you have any ideas about what you write, comment below!

Have a classy homecoming weekend!

Writing Tip of the Week: You're Using Your Wrong?

Two words that are commonly mixed up are “your” and “you’re.” There are some simple ways to remember the difference.

Your is a possessive pronoun. An example is “your bag is over there.”

You’re is a contraction for “you are.” Hint: if you can’t reasonably use “you are” instead of “you’re” without the sentence sounding wrong, then “you’re” shouldn't be used. An example of this is “you’re getting good at this!” It works because you can also say “you are getting good at this!”

Some bad examples are “you’re dog is so cute,” and “your never going there.”

Source: Owl.english.purdue.edu

 

Writing Center Opens in 13 days!

Hello everybody!
The Writing Center is set to open on October 9th during CATS! Spread the word!

Starting October 9th, the writing center is open
CATS: Tuesday-Friday
Lunches: Wednesday-Friday
After school: Wednesday

Go Wildcats!

Centreville High School Writing Center's Twitter https://twitter.com/CVHS_WWC

Writing Tip of the Week: Pause, It's Comma Time

When to use commas?

You use commas to separate sentences.
-for independent clauses with: and, but for, on, nor, so yet,
-after introductory clauses/phrases
-to set off nonessential elements
-when listing 3+ things
-to separate coordinating adjectives
-to indicate a pause
-the end of a sentence refers to the beginning
-places, dates, addresses, titles,
-quotes
When not to:
-to separate essential elements (after "that" clauses)
-between final adj. and noun
-between months and days
-between street name and number
-linking independent clauses with no connecting words
Examples:
1. I would stay after school, but I realized I forgot to walk my dog this morning
2. A girl, named Veronica, smiled at me.
3. On May 29, 1993 Gregg Sulkin was born
4. Today I have to do my homework, vacuum, clean downstairs, clean my room, and do the laundry.

More Information at

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/692/01/

Welcome to the Wildcat Writing Center Blog

Come on down to the Centreville Writing Center, we would love to have you here. The Centreville Writing Center helps students with all their writing problems, whether it's English, science or history. Our goal is to have students increase their knowledge of writing and do well on their papers.

In this blog we'll discuss writing tips, have you meet our wonderful tutors, and more. Find us at room 220 right by the B hallway.

The writing center opens October 9, 2012.